


Are We There Yet?

by TracedInAir



Category: Little Witch Academia, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Champion Akko, F/F, Fluff, Pokemon AU, Researcher Diana, They huntin' legendaries!, Vignette, small moments between the gfs, who also kicks ass because it's Diana
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:28:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29767248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TracedInAir/pseuds/TracedInAir
Summary: Akko gazed out at the grey landscape surrounding them. “Hey, Diana?”Diana paused in the middle of her meal to glance over at Akko, raising a single eyebrow.“Are we there yet?” Akko grinned.[Alternatively: Champion Akko and her Researcher / Former Champion girlfriend on adventures to track down legendary Pokemon]
Relationships: Diana Cavendish/Atsuko "Akko" Kagari
Comments: 15
Kudos: 107





	Are We There Yet?

**Author's Note:**

> Technically a sequel to my fic Learning to Fly (https://archiveofourown.org/works/26143618) but you don't need to have read that to enjoy this one.

Akko slumped back against the mountainside, as sheltered as she could be from the wind. She unwrapped her ration sandwiches, handing one to Diana as she absentmindedly scratched Salamence’s belly and did  _ not _ offer him any of her sandwich. She hadn’t packed enough spare rations to make  _ that _ mistake again.

All that surrounded them was grey. Grey rocks, grey skies, grey  _ everything. _ They hadn’t quite reached through the clouds yet, and even when they  _ did _ they’d need to be on their guard for some of the nastier denizens of Tornadus’ domain. As well as the powerful winds, the biting cold, the inevitable confrontation against an absurdly powerful legendary being…

Akko swallowed a mouthful of sandwich. “Hey, Diana?”

Diana paused in the middle of her meal to glance over at Akko, raising a single eyebrow.

“Are we there yet?” Akko grinned.

Diana rolled her eyes. “Yes, Akko. We’re there.”

* * *

“Do you think it came this way?” Akko asked, stepping through the village square. Orange leaves already littered the ground from the multitude of trees surrounding the gorgeous fountain in the centre, bathing the square in a soft amber glow.

“It seems likely, based on the erratic wind patterns that have been reported in the area recently. However, we’ll have to check for more signs, such as unusually clear water and—” Diana was interrupted by Akko running over to a random child on the square.

“Hey there!” Akko greeted with a wide grin. “Mind if I ask you a question?”

The kid’s eyes widened. “Are you… Champion Akko!?”

“Yep!” Akko’s ponytail bobbed adorably as she leaned down. “That’s me!”

Diana sighed. Should’ve known Akko’s fame would precede her.

“You’re my favourite battler in the whole world! Do you have your Salamence with you!? I love watching him! Satoshi says his Dad’s gonna get him a Bagon so he can have a Salamence too, but he always makes things up!” The kid complained.

“I knew a lot of kids like that when I was growing up,” Akko commiserated. “Do you have any Pokemon?”

“Yeah, my buddy Zigzagoon! He’s not with me right now but he’s the best!”

“Oh I  _ love _ Zig—”

“Akko!” Diana said sternly.

“Ah, oops.” Akko rubbed the back of her neck. “Uh, don’t suppose you’ve seen a big blue doggo running around the roads or fields here, have you?”

“I don’t think so.” The kid looked up, trying to think. “I can ask Akai! He helps his parents with farming so maybe he’s seen something!”

“That’d be great, thanks!” Akko straightened up again as the kid dashed away.

Diana raised an eyebrow.

“OK so  _ maybe  _ that didn’t work, but we  _ have _ found a promising lead!” Akko stressed, as if she wasn’t talking about a child running off to ask his friend about a—

“Big blue doggo?” Diana asked pointedly.

“How else am I meant to describe Suicune to a kid?” Akko waved her arms in protest.

“Any way.” Diana deadpanned. “Quite literally any possible way of describing it would have been better.”

“No it wouldn’t! If I’d called it a  _ red _ doggo that would’ve been worse! Checkmate.” Akko poked her tongue out.

Diana sighed theatrically. “It appears I have been bested in a battle of wits by an unarmed opponent.”

“Hey!”

* * *

“Why’s it so  _ cold!?” _ Akko demanded of the universe itself, huddling her arms around herself to try and will some heat back into her body.

“Akko. You are wearing  _ shorts.” _ Diana pointed out.

“It wasn’t that cold when we were still inside the mountain!” Akko protested. “It was actually pretty warm in Eterna, how was I to know that it’d be so cold up here?”

“Yes, how could you ever have foreseen that  _ Snowpoint Temple _ would require you to bring a coat,” Diana said without the faintest trace of sympathy.

“Better be warmer once we get there,” Akko grumbled.

* * *

_ “How is it even colder!?” _ Akko wailed, stamping on the ground in frustration.

Whereupon she promptly slipped on the frozen floor, flew across the room with a wayward shriek, and smacked into the wall at the far end.

Diana gracefully skated across behind her, avoiding the rubble and crumbled ground of the ancient temple on her path. She planted her feet on some slightly firmer ground as she helped Akko regain her footing.

“OK, well, the  _ good  _ news is I found the carvings!” A newly upright Akko gestured to the wall she’d just been intimately acquainted with.

“Some of them, yes,” Diana said, running her fingers over the wall. It was as she suspected, there were more details that the pictures hadn’t fully captured. Textures, tiny indentations, each with layers of meaning and subtlety in the language of the ancient Regian Empire.

“Can you read it?” Akko asked, gazing in awe.

“Mostly,” Diana said. “The years haven’t been kind, to either the carvings or to the knowledge of the language itself, but…” Diana took a breath, before intoning clearly.

_ “Seek our knowledge not. We that have it want it not. Our artisans’ folly shall not be yours to repeat. The seals must be kept.” _

“Ooo, ominous, I like it.” Akko grinned.

Diana smiled wryly. “Unfortunately, this is merely a confirmation of information we already heavily suspected. Regigigas’ slumber will be maintained unless someone unites the other three in its presence.”

Akko nodded. “So nothing new about where they’re hidden, then?”

“Hopefully the carvings deeper in the temple give us a little more to go off. Then if they do…” Diana sighed heavily. “Concealing millenia old knowledge is the antithesis of why I went into research, but…”

“But if someone else learns the language and figures it out,” Akko finished the thought, “then they might be dumb enough to actually try and wake the big guy up.”

“Exactly.” Diana set her jaw. “Let’s move on.”

Akko trudged behind her, more careful of the slippery ground. “Is it really asleep at the bottom here?”

“You’ve seen the pictures, haven’t you?” Diana descended the crumbling stairs with a hand carefully propped against the wall.

“Yeah but… can we go see anyway?” Akko grinned at Diana, eyeing up the stairs. Making calculations.

“I don’t see why not.” Diana smiled. “Be a shame not to after we came all this way, and there may be some more carvings in its chamber regardless.”

Akko took a step forward.

“On one condition!” Diana interrupted herself.

Akko paused.

_ “Please _ don’t slide down the stairs.” She begged.

* * *

Akko did it anyway.

* * *

“Cover me!” Akko called, banking Salamence  _ towards _ the pillar of flame.

“How is that even  _ remotely _ possible!?” Diana protested, before commanding Milotic to launch a jetstream of water to clear away the worst of the flames from Salamence’s path.

Salamence dived straight into the fire. Diana nearly shrieked, until she saw Akko herself drifting towards the ground on her makeshift glider (which looked like a cape because  _ of course  _ it did).

Moments later, Salamence re-emerged from the back of the fire pillar, flame spewing everywhere as Moltres was forcibly removed from its protective barrier. Salamence endured the worst of Moltres’ flames as they scrapped in midair, fighting tooth-and-claw against talon-and-beak, too close range for anything with more finesse.

An intense blast of heat suddenly radiated out of Moltres. Akko yelled in panic, frantically attempting to glide out of the way of the wave of flame heading directly towards her, only for Diana’s Altaria to swoop in and shield her from the blast.

“Guess I owe you one again, huh?” Akko called down, raising a hand for Altaria to carry her. “Oh, and can you leave the rant about being more careful til  _ after _ we’re done here?”

“I wasn’t going to,” Diana responded. “We catch one another when we fall, Akko.”

“You’re so sweet and I love you so much and I’m  _ so _ taking you out to that fancy Kalosian restaurant in Celadon when we’re done here you have no idea.” Akko made a half-heart symbol with her free hand.

“I look forward to it, darling.” Diana smiled, returning and completing the gesture. “Would you like a little more height?”

“If you don’t mind!” Akko let out a whoop as Altaria ascended skywards. “OK, Salamence, keep it as busy as you can buddy! Dragon Claw!”

Salamence roared in approval, pressing forward and raking its claws across Moltres’ chest as Akko and Altaria reached the crest of their flight, directly in Moltres’ blindspot.

“Now!” Akko dropped, tucking her arms and legs together as she hurtled towards Moltres at terminal velocity, an Ultra Ball clenched tightly in her palm.

Salamence rolled and shoved, pushing the furiously screeching Moltres upwards and directly into Akko’s path.

Right at the moment of impact, Akko let the ball fly.

* * *

“Hey, if Celebi  _ actually _ let us time travel, what would you do with it?” Akko wondered aloud as they crept through the murky darkness of the Ilex Forest.

Diana paused. “Would it spoil the whimsy of the question if I said I’d try to find some way to cure my mother’s illness?”

Akko flinched. “Sorry, my bad for asking.”

“No, it’s alright. I’ll answer more in the expected spirit,” Diana said, thinking for a moment. “I suppose bringing more advanced medicinal knowledge back to older cultures would be an obvious starting point regardless,” she mused, stepping over a fallen branch. “Scientific advances in general, now I think of it. Imagining the present day if our modern clean energy technology could be brought back to a century prior… certainly fascinating.”

“Yeah, or bringing back those Pokemon Centre machines to like, right when they first invented electricity!” Akko added. “Would help out so much!”

“Hmm, you would also have to educate the people on their correct use, potential side-effects of overuse, as well as effective treatments to be used in conjunction with the machine. All of this to a culture likely that assumes the device you have brought is simply infallible…” Diana sighed.

“You say that as if people nowadays don’t think that about Pokemon Centres,” Akko chuckled. “Anyway uh, I’m not sure what I’d actually do.” Akko glanced up into the canopy of trees above them. “Maybe smack some sense into Chariot. Might even be able to save Salamence’s mama if I did it early enough.”

Diana nodded. “You’d be doing the world a service.”

“Wow, harsh.” Akko smirked. “Oh, better idea! Go back and give teenage Diana a hug.”

Diana smiled softly. “Heaven knows she needed one. Or a few.”

They walked a bit further in comfortable silence. Even the wild Pokemon didn’t bother them much, despite the encroaching darkness as they approached the centre of the forest, and the shrine within.

“Kinda polite of Celebi not to surround itself with a bunch of nasty wild Pokemon,” Akko noted.

“It’s a pleasant change, I admit,” Diana agreed. “Although… I am not looking forward to the part where it forces intruders to relive their worst memories.”

Akko placed a hand on Diana’s shoulder almost without thinking. “Hey, you can stop here if you want.”

Diana shook her head, but brought a hand up to hold Akko’s on her shoulder nonetheless. “I’ll be alright, thank you Akko.”

Akko squeezed Diana’s shoulder. “Pretty sure I’m just gonna see myself being a little bitch to you a bunch. Now  _ there’s _ something I’d change if I could go back…”

Diana shrugged. “You know it doesn’t bother me anymore, and I was hardly polite to you either when we first met.” Diana stopped still, clutching Akko’s hand against her shoulder, turning her gentle gaze towards her. “Truth be told, I wouldn’t change any of it. I’m too happy with the life I have now to consider risking any kind of adjustments that could take you away from me.”

Akko’s breath caught for a second, before she wrapped Diana in a tight hug. “I love you so much.”

Diana simply allowed herself to be held. Allowed herself to enjoy the wonderful sensation of love that radiated at all times from the woman who was hers. Allowed herself to bask in the warmth of  _ Akko. _

“And hey, Diana?” Akko leaned back a little, gazing into Diana’s eyes.

“Yes, love?”

“Just so you know, none of the crappy memories it shows me are gonna bother me at all. Cause I already know what happens at the end of them.” Akko rubbed her nose against Diana’s. “Some incredible genius researcher-slash-battler comes along and picks me up again, every time. Can’t be scared of a scary story when I already know the happy ending, right?”

Diana rested her forehead against Akko’s, bringing her arms around her back and holding her close. “Then allow me to be grateful that the story didn’t end, and instead I get to continue living my happily ever after every day with you.”

Akko giggled. “Maybe we should write storybooks instead of all those research papers.”

“Perhaps.” Diana chuckled along with her. “I suppose we could always turn around and head back, start our new lives as best-selling novelists.”

Akko laughed again. “Well with the lives we’ve already had…”

They held each other for what might have been only a moment, but was all the time in the world. “Hey, Diana?”

Diana hummed, so close Akko could feel the vibration through their shared touch.

“D’you think we’re nearly there yet?”

Diana smiled. “Yes, Akko. We’re there.”

**Author's Note:**

> Just wanna say a huge thanks to my buddy Feleanne! This fic came about cause of a convo where we both got super hyped about the idea of Champion Akko and Researcher Diana tracking down legendaries, and I'm pretty sure she's gonna do her own spin on it at some point so y'all better check that out when it happens!


End file.
